Seven years after a catastrophic explosion permanently shut down a 150-year-old South Philadelphia oil refinery, new industries are rising from the sprawling site.
The former refinery — once the largest oil refining complex on the East Coast and capable of processing 335,000 barrels of crude oil a day — is now being transformed into the Bellwether District, a 1,300-acre industrial innovation campus.
HRP Group, the site’s owner, is redeveloping the former industrial property with plans to bring new manufacturing and other industries to Philadelphia.
“We really see this as the growth of new industry where old industry once stood,” Amelia Alcivar of HRP Group said.
For Alcivar, the transformation is particularly striking when compared with images of the destruction left by the June 21, 2019, explosion.
Rebirth after the devastating oil refinery explosion in South Philadelphia. Seven years after the largest oil refinery on the east coast came down in the middle of the night…hope is on the horizon. A massive economic development project is bringing new life to the 1300 acres of land, and tens of thousands of jobs to the region.
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“It’s incredible for me to see the photos of what happened that day, the photos of what was left here afterwards, and now drive out, as we will, and see trees, and see birds, and see new buildings coming up, and see jobs already operating on site through the construction jobs being created today, and then see what the future is going to hold,” Alcivar said.
Cancer treatment manufacturing coming to the site
About 250 of the Bellwether District’s 1,300 acres — an area described as roughly equivalent to 190 football fields — will become home to TerraPower Isotopes, which will produce ingredients used in advanced cancer treatments.
Standing near construction at the site, Alcivar described what is taking shape.
“So what we’re looking at is the laying of the foundation of what we truly believe will be the future of cancer care, both nationally and internationally, growing right here in Philadelphia,” Alcivar said.
“They produce a rare isotope that is going to be the critical ingredient in the next generation of cancer treatments,” Alcivar said.
The product will be “manufactured right here in Philadelphia,” she said.
The transformation represents a remarkable turn for a site where no lives were lost in the refinery explosion seven years ago.
“It is absolutely a full circle moment for Philadelphia and you know it really started with the community the incredible benefits the community by not just the removal of the refinery but also the creation of this blank canvas where the next generation of manufacturing of innovation will happen,” Alcivar said.
Up to 19,000 permanent jobs projected
Another major development planned for the Bellwether District is a 1.4 million-square-foot building on 74 acres for canned drink manufacturer DrinkPAK. Additional space remains available for lease.
HRP Group projects the overall redevelopment could eventually support thousands of permanent jobs.
“So we’ve done some third party projections about job creation and we are predicting a minimum of 10,000 up to 19,000 direct permanent jobs created by the facilities that will locate here at the Bellwether district,” Alcivar said.
The redevelopment is also changing the environmental footprint of a property that operated as an oil refinery for generations.
“We saw, according to the city of Philadelphia, by removing the refinery, that alone was a 16% reduction in carbon emissions citywide,” Alcivar said.
HRP Group says the development already is attracting significant investment.
“We have companies investing hundreds of millions of dollars here in Philadelphia. They needed to see that you truly could build on this former industrial site. And once this vision became a reality, the calls started coming,” Alcivar said.
This story was originally reported for broadcast by NBC Philadelphia. AI tools helped convert the story to a digital article, and an NBC Philadelphia journalist edited the article for publication.